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The Guildmaster's Approval
Guild District - Markon(#11627Rnt) - Cybertron Underground Easily considered the heart of the city, it is in this crowded mash of factories, shops, and laboratories that everyone from blacksmiths to aeronautical engineers work to perfect their craft. In Markon, "My Alt Mode Is My Function Is My Life" is the way things are, and mechs spend their entire lives dedicated to the perfect of that function. As a result, weapons and armor from Markon are valued over any other region of the planet, and their engineers and craftsmen are in constant demand. Apprentices with arm fulls of materials and plans scurry this way and that. Something in a nearby workshop blows up. No matter where you stand, you're in the way. Contents: Solstice Darkness Obvious exits: East leads to The Core - Markon. South leads to Grand Plaza - Markon. West leads to North Gate - Markon. Smithing a weapon is harder than it looks, but thankfully Torque has experience with building things and the benefit of being able to talk to others for advice. Even so, she's still nervous about what Grind will think of the finished product, the medic doing her best to stay calm when walking through Markon's streets with a box under an arm. "You know you didn't have to come all the way out here to get fixed." She chimes with a smile to Soltice beside her, leading the femme along to Grind's workshop with her. "I'm flattered, though. C'mon, I'll patch you up in the workshop." Waving a hand to follow, Torque steps into the workshop and sets her box down, helping Solstice onto a bench before calling out. "Grind, you here?" Solstice walks alongside Torque, looking here and there with a wide-opticed merriment. "Well, I know I didn't but th' records said you're pretty much one of th' best an' with weapons too, ma'am." Door-wings shifting a bit behind her, a bit of glass wiggling loose. There is a big mill, grinding away, where the Markon Autoots will have directed Torque. The mill is casting, hot rolling, and cold rolling steel ingots! "Ah, tovarisch!" the mill greets Torque. "You come back to conquering heroine, yes?" Torque chuckles softly and smirks at Solstice. "Heh, who said I'm good with weapons? Can't shoot for slag, and just got my foot in the door with making 'em." Seriously, she needs to work on her aim sometime, but that's for another day. Instead she turns to address Grind, not realizing it was the femme at first. Stationary altmodes, let alone ones with a factory purpose, are hard to come by, so it's no surprise she doesn't catch on until Grind speaks. "Yep, and I come bearing the spoils of war." Torque beams, motioning to the box. "Heh, you should've seen the look on Hun-Grrr's face when I flipped him. The mech was stunned!" Or severely wounded, it's hard to tell. "By the way, thanks again for those little cloakers. It really came in handy." Taking her medkit out next, Torque turns her attention to Solstice, though speaks to Grind again as she gets to work patching up any damage or leaks. "I just need to patch up Solstice here a second, though." Solstice shrugs, wincing slightly as she moves a shoulder, "Gen'ral files, ma'am." She has a fleeting moment of feeling like a lost puppy, mentally picturing herself as an orange canid, blinks and looks at the box curiously. "I'm patient, ma'am. Didn't really 'expect y' to drop everythin'." "Ah, it would have been the sweetest of pictures. It is a shame you did not kill him, though... but perhaps there would have been many angry with you, to not have the honor themselves," Grind muses, still milling ingots. "The cloakers were nothing... or rather, they make you look like nothing!" <'Autobot'> Sandstorm says, "Blurr, Arcee?" <'Autobot'> Sandstorm says, "Get the slag off the building." <'Autobot'> Arcee says, "Sandstorm?" "Don't you worry about it." Torque smiles warmly, patting Solstice on the shoulder. "The patient always comes first, no matter what. Besides, it'll only take a minute." She's a top medic, so efficiency and speed are what she's all about. With some wires reconnected and any internal leaks stemmed, Torque gets to welding any wounds shut with sparks flying as she uses her soldering tool. The procedure is relatively quick, so it isn't long before Torque straights up and smiles, twirling tool in a hand. "There we go, all done. Just gotta let the patch job set for a little bit, then you'll be ready to head out on the field again." After setting her tools aside she smirks at Grind and brings the box over, setting it down on the bench beside Solstice and opening it up to reveal.... HANDS! But not just any hands, of course. Previously belonging to Hun-Grrr, the massive fists have since been gutted and refitted with additional components to make a pair of giant gauntlets. "Haven't come up with a name for 'em yet, but I like the outcome. I added a hydraulics system to give the punches some extra oomph." She demonstrates by slipping one on, engulfing her arm up to the elbow, and activates something inside that rockets the fist out from the gauntlet on the piston rods before retracting with hard shunk. "And I added a disruptor unit in the hand for added shattering power." <'Autobot'> Sandstorm says, "No one needs to be guilty of this but me. But if Soundwave thinks he's going to stop this with a buncha words he's got another thing comin'...." <'Autobot'> Soundwave says, "DO IT, WRECKER. YOU'LL NEVER TAKE CRYSTAL CITY." The mill looks over Torque's PowerFists. It's hard to tell that Grind is doing this, because Grind is a stationary mill, but she's definitely checking out Torque's work. "I have one question." "How will you keep your shoulders from also shattering when you deliver these blows?" Torque slips on the other gauntlet and smirks, flexing the fingers a little before moving into a fighting stance. "I made sure to install some internal shock absorbers to help soak up some of the returned force. But other than that I can handle whatever it can't absorb. I'm made for punching, after all." Balling her fists up, Torque lets loose a triple combo, jabbing twice with the left and following up with a right hook to the air before settling down and removing them. "I did a few test runs, and the seem to be holding up. But I was hoping you could have a look and see if they're up to snuff to join the Guild." Grind finishes the ingots that she's been cranking out, and she transforms into her huge, hulking, Strika-like robot mode. She holds out a hand to take the gauntlets to look at them. "What works in theory may blow up in your face in battle! Testing is good and necessary, yes! But you must never become complacent." <'Autobot'> Sandstorm says, "WRECK N RULE!" Torque is still wowed whenever she sees Grind, the medic always feeling dwarfed beside femmes like her and Imager. Nodding as the Guildmaster speaks, Torque sets the gauntlets in Grind's outstretched hand and looks hopeful when looking up intently at her. While not a prototype, it isn't a full fledged product either, looking just a bit rough around the edges since it's literally someone's hands made into a weapon. But aside from that, the gauntlets would appear sturdy and the response of the internal mechanisms sharp. Grind is surprisingly gentle in examining the PowerFist gloves, opening them up and examining the workings. After a long check, she points out, "Did you clear out all the data caches in the subsystems and changed all the passwords? If not, Hun-Grrr could potentially suborn your hands." Ultra Magnus arrives from the North Gate - Markon. Ultra Magnus has arrived. Torque's antennas flick up at the question, optics widening a little. "N.. No I didn't." Lower lip is bitten and a hand comes up to rub the back of her neck. "Can't believe I missed something like that. I'd be really screwed if he somehow got control of those things." She can just imagine suddenly punching herself repeatedly out of nowhere. Yeah, don't want that to happen. "I can fix that now, though. How's everything else look?" While speaking she digs back into her tools, pulling out a sort of datapad-like device with a line connected to it, apparently used to encode new limbs to lower the rejection rate. Reidan Wesley arrives from the North Gate - Markon. Reidan Wesley has arrived. Reidan Wesley stares at Magnus "No WONDER I didn't recognize you the second time." he admits, turning to jog after Magnus. He follows along, tipping his hat to the guards, allowing himself to be scanned and prodded if need be. He looks this way and that as they walk along "Hmm... " he pulls out a notepad to scribble things down ponderously <'Autobot'> Sandstorm is in no condition to make wisecracks. But there's a drawn out *beeeeeeep* to let medics know a Wrecker went down and they need to get either an emergency table or a casket ready, depending. <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "Well, that is disheartening to hear..." <'Autobot'> Arcee says, "You can say that again" Grind is a huge mill Autobot. She explains to Torque, "It is a good design. Solid. I think the vibrations will make it high maintenance, though. Something to think about for the future." Magnus walks through the shops and buildings, his height allowing him to see over the heads of other shoppers and spot Torque even though he's still a ways off. He doesn't say anything though, instead looking away to examine some of the other activity. Magnus transforms into his Ultra Magnus mode. Reidan Wesley is practically invisible in the crowd, barely a shadow in the shadow of Ultra Magnus as he follows, using the gargantuan mech as a kind of way to keep himself from being stepped on "Hmm. Next time definitely, hoverboard. " he notes, barely able to see into some stalls. Torque grins and nods, overjoyed to hear her work is good. "Definitely. I've already got a few ideas on how to improve on this if I make another pair." Once Grind is finished with the gauntlets, Torque receives them and sets them on the bench next to her, hooking up her device and scanning through to internal code. "Don't think I'll be using Terrorcon hands next time, though. The material isn't as strong as I'd like it to be." She needs something to really hold up to the impact. While going through and deleting lines of code, she glances up to look outside the open doors of the workshop, noting the giant form of Ultra Magnus perusing the wares. "Huh, didn't expect Magnus to stick around here." She muses and shakes her head before looking over to Grind. "So does this mean I qualify for a Guild? I'm eager to help where I can." "Comrade Torque, you are now an official member of the Mechanical Guild of Markon!" Grind proclaims. "You may stay here in the guildhall and use our facilities. The Guild may ask some tasks of you, now and then." Ultra Magnus's head whips around to look again when he hears the proclamation. He casts a quick glance to find Reidan, then nods in the direction of Grind and Torque. "That's an Autobot she's talking about," Ultra Magnus explains. "I remember hearing something about outsiders joining the Guild the last time we were here." Torque nearly drops her device when Grind announces her official entrance into the Guild. "You.. You really mean it?" Suddenly her mood intensifies tenfold, the femme beaming as bright as the sun and looking about to cheer and jump around. But instead she holds up a determined fist, a passionate fire burning clearly in her optics. "Thank you, Grind! This means a lot, to work beside everyone here in Markon. I'll give it my all and promise not to disappoint you." And since Markonians like to hug a lot, Grind gets just that even if Torque is pretty short in comparison. "Oh really! That sounds like a prestigious career start." remarks Reidan as he looks in that direction, even if all he could see was a moving sea of metal legs. He hears voices though and looks up, wondering if he should applaud or not. Grind happily accepts the hug and returns it! "I say what I mean. Anything else is a waste of time. Though... we need to do something about your taste in drinks..." Ultra Magnus looks a bit conflicted as well. "It could be..." he admits. "Still, I hope this doesn't mean Torque's going to spend less time with the Autobots. We can't afford to lose her, especially now." Reidan Wesley hmms "What does she do? She? He? No you said She." the retired human remarks as he finally caught sight o the two "You hug?? Sorry, that sounds ignorant, I suppose. Terribly sorry. I'm a horrid tourist..." Thankfully Ultra Magnus won't have to worry about that. Torque is an Autobot first, after all, but she'll find a way to balance it all. With a soft chuckle she releases the femme and flashes an embarrassed smile. "Ah, yeah, I'll have to get used to these Markonian drinks. I'm more of a ener-lager kinda drinker." Turning away to grab up her device to make a few final adjustments to the gauntlets, she notes Magnus across the crowd, unfortunately unable to see Reidan since he's so small, and offers a cheerful wave before getting back to work. She can't wait to use this new weapon, and hopefully make more for others! Ultra Magnus returns the wave before he turns to glance down at Reidan. "Was there anything particular you were looking for?" Reidan Wesley shrugs "Interesting foods that are human-safe to eat. Hello!" he tips his hat as Torque goes by, watching, and then back to ULtra Magnus "As well as any musical instruments and knicknacks that may be of interest. I collect oddities." Ultra Magnus nods in understanding. "It looks like you've come to the right place then." He runs an optic over the market. "Perhaps we should split up for a few minutes. "I'm curious about how the Guilds would treat a civilian." Ultra Magnus seems perfectly willing to use Reidan in his social experiment. Reidan Wesley hmms and nods and glances at his watch "Oh, so now I'm an experiment." he joked, chuckling a little "Well, I haven't gotten my 'screaming hysterically while running away' exercise regime in yet for the week, so may as well." he notes, and considers, then turns to head to the nearest stall "I would like your most unusual and strangest thing you have under.. hang on, let me check... two hundred credits! " he had, of course, gotten money exchanged. Ultra Magnus nods and permits himself a smile. "Just do what you would normally do at any store," he suggests in a whisper before moving away to observe the human's progress. Ultra Magnus doesn't go far, but he does his best to make Reidan is here by himself. Reidan Wesley smirks at Ultra Magnus "Oh sure, get me kicked off the planet." he joked back, and turns back to the shopkeep, who had to peer over the edge to stare at him. After a few moments, he reaches around back and pulls out this... weird collection of randomly fitted pipes. "How about that? " Reidan eyes it "... What is it? " "Not too sure. It looks interesting though! I think its a musical wind instrument." Ultra Magnus watches carefully. Between attempts to ward off assorted vendor that try talking Ultra Magnus into buying an energo-sword. Reidan Wesley considers the device, which was a good weight for the human as he stares at it. The mech started to get rather impatient at him though and the human quickly stated "Maybe not that one today. I have to walk a bit." Ultra Magnus steps forward after a few minutes, nodding politely at Reidan's salesmech. "Are you ready to go...?" Reidan Wesley smiles "I think so yes." he had made other purchases "Back to Fort Dawn. Thank you very much by the way!"